Beware! BittFonex is an offshore broker! Your investment may be at risk.
BittFonex Key Facts
🔴 BittFonex sells suspicious products and services. A scam sign!
🔴 BittFonex doesn't operate transparently. Red flag!
🔴 BittFonex has no license to offer financial services. Red flag!
🔴 BittFonex is a young domain. A disturbing sign!
BittFonex products and services
First off, we have to say that this website is absolutely identical to many other sites registered on the same IP address. This fact plus their ridiculous claims make it easy to confirm it's a scam. The differences between BittFonex.com and Bitcoineaz.com are minute.
BittFonex is allegedly a Bitcoin exchange, which offers investment packages, too. Their basic plan is said to bring a 50% profit. It's a scam sign whatsoever because such a rate of return is impossible. There isn't a legit business that can offer such profitability.
People should always be cautious when dealing with businesses offering enormously high yields because it's scammers' trait to promise big and create unrealistic expectations. In reality, regulated financial companies cannot secure more than a few percents annually with their fixed-income products. There is a huge discrepancy between these offers and the regulated companies standards. Judging by the products and services they sell, we suspect it's a scam, so beware.
BittFonex company and regulation
BittFonex.com is the website of BittFonex, a company that doesn't exist. It's a fake business. They claim to have a market cap of 198.76 billion USD, which is ridiculous. The website isn't in any way associated with licensed companies, so based on the facts uncovered we confirm it's a scam. Traders and investors had better make sure they are dealing with licensed and regulated companies only. Read on to understand why it's unsafe to invest with anonymous business creatures like this one.
The US financial services regulation is very complex in the USA. Derivatives markets regulation is a responsibility of CFTC and NFA. Forex brokers and most of the investments companies have to be NFA members and CFTC registered to operate in the USA. On the other hand, securities markets are controlled by the SEC, a government independent agency responsible to maintain the integrity of the financial markets.
While SEC focuses more on the procedure regulation insisting on financial reports and management discussion and analysis, NFA and CFTC impose pretty straightforward requirements. To become authorised the companies have to provide 20 million USD in paid-up capital, which is considered a guarantee that the businesses can survive in turbulent times and pay whenever they have to.
Other customer protection measures include clients’ accounts segregation and leverage restrictions for forex brokers- 1:50. Also, CFTC brokers’ clients are not allowed hedging, which is one of the very unique US features. Unfortunately, the cryptocurrencies regulation is still inept, so traders and investors should be wary when dealing with crypto offers.
BittFonex address and contacts
BittFonex lists New York, USA as a headquarter address. They do not provide a street number or a postcode. However, that's in line with scammers' practices who don't operate transparently, and it's their top priority to remain anonymous and impossible to catch. Their contact number is +1 (352) 469-0049 a US phone clear of spam reports.
Transparency is crucial when talking about brokers and investment companies, and it's part of the regulatory framework. The regulated companies are open to financial authorities following certain transparency rules, so it's generally unlikely to conduct fraudulent activities. They are also bound to provide the public with crucial information about themselves, making it easy for traders and investors to confirm the company's legitimacy.
BittFonex.com website info
BittFonex.com is a domain name registered on 11th of September 2019, so it's more than a year and a half old at the time of writing. It's registered on Netherlands IP address: 185.237.147.231 co-hosting 75 websites at the time of writing. Most of the domains are associated with fishy investment schemes.
Alexa doesn't even rank this domain, so it’s an obscure website people do not trust. The Alexa ranking isn’t a key determinant, but the lack of popularity isn’t a good sign whatsoever. Plus it's a website that's been online for quite some time, making things even worse.
BittFonex.com uses privacy protection services to hide the ownership of the website. The latest trend in the privacy policy around the world denies it should be a problem but considering it's an investment service we might as well consider this a disturbing sign.
Here are other shady investment schemes based on the same IP:
Scam warning
We paid utmost attention to the regulation and transparency in the sections above because it’s mandatory for trading and investments. Pretty much each company offering financial services have to be authorised by the local financial authority.
However, some entities operate unlicensed and intentionally run investment fraud. It would be best if you only dealt with companies authorised by the regulators, so always check to make sure they are. Bear in mind that if you trade with unauthorised businesses, you won’t be protected, so it’s very likely to suffer losses almost impossible to recover if things go wrong.
Online scam is trending nowadays with fraudulent websites popping up literally every day. The financial authorities increase the number of warnings issued year after year, but the dangers are still out there and growing exponentially. You’ll realise the hazards when you consider OneCoin scam- it’s still impossible to calculate the total loss, but it’s regarded as 15 billion worth fraud. Make sure to trade with licensed and regulated companies to avoid off-putting losses.
Kimberly Voldrich
THIS IS A SCAM!!I was messaged on facebook messenger by a man named Cory Gardiner, he got me started on Bittfonex.com. I even spoke with a “client” of his before I got involved and she stated “hes good at what he does and you are in good hands.” We were talking daily and he was talking value of friendship vs money and other things. I fell for him. So I did it. I started with less than $500 and was seeing small profits on my account almost daily. (like $8-$20 usually) A few months later, I got a “great offer” to deposit 5,000 and they would put 20,000 into my account. I did that and they did add the money. However, when I tried to withdraw the money I was hit with fee after fee. I called “Cory” out about being a scammer and he was even having his “friends” help me with the fees. Which is why I fell for it and continued speaking and being in a “relationship” with him for almost a year. There was a “blockchain deadline” announced and all the money I had was supposedly lost. It eventually goes to they need money for equipment and transportation on an oil rig. Then he was coming home to help me with my bills and admitting everything I was going through was his fault. When he was “coming home” he literally disappeared, stopped texting and has not been on his whats or telegram accounts. I am assuming blocked me or changed his number. I am sure all my money is gone, but I can see they are still running a scam. (One of the numbers still shows last seen every few hours on telegram) so want the word out of what happened to me. Just in case they are doing it to other people who are unaware!!